Monday, May 21, 2007

Show Me Some Skin: Shik Do Rak, Koreatown

Let's perform a little exercise, shall we? Read the following lines and tell me what comes to mind:

I love skin.

I love it when it's dry.

I love it when it's wet.

I love it when it's a little bit salty.

I love to lick it. I love to bite it. I love to smack it up, flip it, rub it down...

Now I'm assuming that most of you need to get your mind out of the gutter.

But if you're at all in touch with your Asian side, you'll know that since the Chinese word for food wrapper is also the word for "skin," that I could also be talking about that. You know, like wonton wrappers, er, I mean skins. Eggroll skins. Gyoza skins. Mu Shu skins. Mandoo skins. Xiu Long Bao skins. Burrito skins (aka tortillas) And in this case, I am.

See what I mean?

From what I hear, as far as a certain type of Korean skin is concerned, Shik Do Rak in Koreatown is apparently the self-proclaimed Home-Of-It.

And so it was that Mr. DG and I met up at Shik Do Rak with our favorite foodblogging couple, Jeni of Oishii Eats and Dylan of Eat, Drink, & Be Merry to see what this skin was all about. No, I'm not talking about Korean burlesque, you naughty little minxes. No, no, I'm talking about duk bo sam, otherwise known as Korean rice wrappers.

The process at Shik Do Rak is pretty simple. Grill up your meat. Dip it into the delicious garlicky, beany, red pepper paste and/or into the salted oil. Put it onto a square of duk bo sam. Top with some of the flavorless-needed-to-be-dressed lettuce salad. Wrap it up. Eat. Repeat. Have some of the not-too-plentiful panchan and some Hite beer while you're at it. Shik Do Rak's menu isn't all too complicated either with its handful of meat choices and just a sprinkling of other non-BBQ dishes. We did this whole wrap thing with some chadol baegi which are thin, ribbon-like slices of beef (very reminiscent of the beef curls that you see at those Mongolian BBQ places), beef tongue and beef short rib. Making things even easier is the restaurant's super-attentive wait staff: just ask and you shall receive. And if for some strange reason you don't, just ask the ultra-friendly owner--a cute little older gentleman who literally goes to each table to check on them--and you definitely shall receive.

This...

Plus this (cooked of course)...

And this...

Equals this!

I liked this place, but definitely not because of the meat. Though its overall quality was decent, its flavor left something to be desired because it wasn't pre-marinated. No, my friends, it's all about the duk bo sam here. There's something about the cool, chewy snap of the wrapper against the freshly grilled meat that has one coming back for more. After all, this is the house of skin, er, I mean duk bo sam, isn't it?

Shik Do Rak2501 W. Olympic Blvd.Los Angeles, CA 90006(213) 384-4148

(To get Eat, Drink, & Be Merry's take on our Shik Do Rak outing, go here!)

LOL! it puts the chadol baegi on its skin and then it puts the chadol baegi in the basket. PUT THE FUCKING CHADOL BAEGI IN THE BASKET!!! hahahahahahaha! i LOVE that you referenced SOTL--one of the greatest movies ever in my book.

You are in good form my friend. Love the post. If you and Mr. DG are willing to drive down the 605 anytime soon, M and I will take you to M's new fav restaurant. I don't know how to spell the name in English but loosely translated the name of the place is called King Kalbi. The like to boast about their big bone... ha! They really do serve a GINORMOUS bone of beef to cook up. Plus they have awesome spicy mixed noodles. Let's do dinner soon.

The rice sheets are actually called banh cuon and they are originally made by the Vietnamese. Most of the Korean restaurants in LA purchase the sheets pre-made from Vietnamese suppliers who sell them in large boxes by pound. You can buy them for $2 a pound, but a large quantity can be purchased with a discount. I'm not sure if Shik Do Rak makes their own, but considering how time consuming it is to make your own, it wouldn't be unlikely that they purchase them.

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